Chinese researchers have identified a bacteria which may cause obesity, according to a new paper suggesting diets that alter the presence of microbes in humans could combat the condition.

Researchers in Shanghai found that mice bred to be resistant to obesity even when fed high-fat foods became excessively overweight when injected with a kind of human bacteria and subjected to a rich diet.

The bacterium -- known as enterobacter -- had been linked with obesity after being found in high quantities in the gut of a morbidly obese human volunteer, said the report, written by researchers at Shanghai's Jiaotong University.

The mice were injected with the bacterium for up to 10 weeks as part of the experiment.

The experiments show that the bacterium "may causatively contribute to the development of obesity" in humans, according to the paper published in the peer-reviewed journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology.

A human patient lost over 66 pounds in nine weeks after being placed on a diet of "whole grains, traditional Chinese medicinal foods and prebiotics", which reduced the bacterium's presence in the patient's gut to "undetectable" levels, the paper said.

One of the report's authors, Zhao Liping, lost 44 pounds in two years after adopting a diet of fermented probiotic foods such as bitter melon to adjust the balance of bacteria in his gut, the American magazine Science said in an article this year on his previous research.

Zhao's work on the role of bacteria in obesity is inspired by traditional Chinese beliefs that the gut is the "foundation for human health", Science reported...

Interesting. I’ve had gut trouble in the past, after a serious diverticulitis episode, and used to take probiotics to counteract the effects of antibiotics that I was prescribed from time to time to fight infection.

Recently, the past couple of years, I’ve lost a number of pounds and several inches. My doctor is a bit puzzled, as I’m still doing about the same amound of eating and exercising. But one difference is that I’ve been taking probiotics on a regular basis, instead of only occasionally. Possibly that ties in with these findings. Crowd out the malign bacteria with benign ones.

For whatever reason, it’s also been about five years since I last had any recurrence of the diverticulitis problem. Again, that could be the result of a better bacterial balance. I’m pretty much sold on the probiotics.

Enterobacter is a genus of common bacteria, several strains of which are pathogenic. But the obesity connection is an interesting one.

Typically, a healthy person’s flora has between 300-1000 different kinds of just bacteria (along with a vast number of viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms.)

However, of this 300-1000, only 30 or 40 of them take up the vast majority of physical space. These are your “core flora” and are essential to digestion and health. They are very interactive with your immune system.

But here’s the zinger: “In a recent study, over 1/3rd of gut bacteria in a morbidly obese volunteer was found to be enterobacter. After 23 weeks, the volunteer lost almost 1/3 of his weight by virtually eliminating the bacteria via diet, while being prevented from exercising.”

That is, enterobacter bacteria had *displaced* most of the other “good” bacteria. And having this much enterobacter likely caused inflammation that *resulted* in obesity.

The way this happens is because your fat contains clusters of cells called MAST cells. When these cells are irritated, they release histamines and heparin. In turn, these chemicals irritate other MAST cell clusters, but *also* cause the body to retain more fat.

And as you get fatter, along with the fat are created a more than proportionally greater number of MAST cell clusters. So a morbidly obese person’s fat is loaded with them, making it easier to gain weight.

But irritated MAST cell clusters do so much more. They can activate all sorts of autoimmune system diseases, from many forms of arthritis, to Crohn’s disease, to psoriasis, etc.

But how to reduce the proportion of enterobacter in the flora? Both by changing the diet to make the intestinal environment less beneficial to it, and by consuming a lot of other digestive bacteria, to displace the enterobacter.

Healthy digestive bacteria are available OTC and sold in stores.

11
posted on 12/20/2012 5:32:46 PM PST
by yefragetuwrabrumuy
(Pennies and Nickels will NO LONGER be Minted as of 1/1/13 - Tim Geithner, US Treasury Sect)

I’ve recently become impressed by a drink called Kefir, which is now available in several brands in some grocery stores. Some of them have 10 or more different probiotic strains, and is much less expensive than probiotic supplements.

Tastes like a flavored (or unflavored) yoghurt smoothie. Some people have taken to making their own.

It’s not so much a case of trying to eliminate enterobacter, both because it is a genus of all sorts of different bacteria, and it is ubiquitous, it is everywhere. Instead you want to *reduce* the percent of your flora it occupies. Again, think of bacteria physically “shouldering out” other bacteria to have space to live. (Lebensraum?)

The morbidly obese people who were examined were found to have about 1/3rd of their flora as enterobacter strains. This means maybe half a dozen enterobacter strains dominating a flora that should have a much more evenly distributed amount of them and 24-34 other types of bacteria.

The Chinese research noted that enterobacter strains are somewhat vulnerable to a more acidic environment in the GI tract, so this was the focus of their diet. But that can get complicated in a hurry, as it also depends on the kind of acid, the best being Hydrochloric, which kills enterobacter at pH 4.0 (stomach HCL has a pH of 1.5 to 3.5, but this is neutralized by bile at 7.5-8.8). It is probably not a good idea to try and acidify your GI tract by diet unless you have expert advice.

But probiotics work around the problem by flooding the GI tract with bacteria, which will gradually (1 month plus) muscle out much of the enterobacter.

Typically, gut bacteria reproduce about every half hour unless they are inhibited from doing so by other bacteria, so it is probably better to take a small (relatively speaking, though billions of bacteria) amount of probiotics at frequent intervals rather than one big horse dose.

One of the more interesting replacement bacteria is the genus of bifidobacterium, a common digestive bacteria that uniquely digests plant fibers, and is found in foods like Activa yogurt and unpasteurized sauerkraut. It uses “inulin” (not insulin), a soluble fiber found in non-starchy vegetables such as green beans, Asian vegetables, dark green leafy vegetables, summer squash and cabbage family vegetables like broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts. So consuming the two together works even better.

Activa yoghurt is specifically used as for digestive bulk, like Metamucil, to support regularity. Since it can consume plant fiber, but enterobacter cannot, this gives a reproductive advantage to bifidobacterium. Bifobacterium is also found in Kefir.

I’d also add that new research has shown that broccoli has an ingredient that is extremely toxic to the H. Pylori bacteria, even hidden within tissues such as the stomach lining. H. Pylori is mostly associated with stomach ulcers and stomach and upper GI cancers, so it is good to slap it down as well as enterobacter. Yay, broccoli.

22
posted on 12/21/2012 6:26:31 AM PST
by yefragetuwrabrumuy
(Pennies and Nickels will NO LONGER be Minted as of 1/1/13 - Tim Geithner, US Treasury Sect)

It was horrendous the way that they looked and I felt so sorry for them. There is no way they ate their way to that size.

In making that assumption you've forgotten one of the two important factors in weight.Yes,you've covered the calorie *intake* side of the equation but you've left out the *burning* of calories.If either of them burned *no* calories over a given period (impossible,of course) and took in 100 calories a day that person would,in time,gain weight.So,what happened to them is that they both *ate* their way and *sat on their fat a$$es watching TV and/or playing video games* their way to their massive state.Ask any registered dietitian (or physician),they'll tell you.

Or,just look at photos of the prisoners who survived their time building the Burma Railway.Backbreaking work + abysmally inadequate nutrition = rib cages sickeningly visible along with little,skinny legs.Google these photos if your memory needs refreshing.

A human patient lost over 66 pounds in nine weeks after being placed on a diet of "whole grains, traditional Chinese medicinal foods and prebiotics", which reduced the bacterium's presence in the patient's gut to "undetectable" levels, the paper said. One of the report's authors, Zhao Liping, lost 44 pounds in two years after adopting a diet of fermented probiotic foods such as bitter melon to adjust the balance of bacteria in his gut...

26
posted on 04/07/2013 10:53:23 AM PDT
by SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)

The calories to build all that fat didn’t come out of thin air. Some have slower metabolisms and that combined with sedentary living contributes to much of the obesity we see day to day. But, in order to be truly morbidly obese there is going to be high caloric intake to feed it.

It is not that simple. Some people “take in” calories and “pass” many of them right back out again.

If two people eat the same food containing the same amount of calories, one of those people may have a system that is more efficient at extracting the calories from that food. The other person may pass more of those calories as waste. So if both those people burn the same number of calories one will end up weighing less than the other.

So it isn’t simple.

Of course, if you limit caloric intake to less than calories burned you will cause weight loss, that is true.

But you would need to limit it more in the first person I described and less in the second one.

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